WORKS
8 minutes 17 seconds
Premiered at The Theatre Centre, Toronto in January 2020, with a cast of 12 diving into choreography by Lucy Rupert, Karen Kaeja, Emma Kerson and Jane Alison McKinney, a co-creation by Michael Caldwell and Lucy, with text by Hume Baugh and original music by Jascha Narveson, Marley Rosen and astrophysicist Matt Russo.
Exploring the nature and behaviour of light in transit from the Sun to Earth, and the emotional resonances of a short, finite time frame of 8:17, the work looked at the death of a star, the wonder and pulse of the universe and our own preoccupation with mortality.
Lighting design by Michelle Ramsay
Stage management by Laura Cournoyea
Lucy Rupert, Jane Alison McKinney and Emma Kerson in 8 minutes 17 seconds. photo by Melanie Gordon
dead reckoning
Perplexing, haunting and slightly mischievous, with choreography by Lucy Rupert and international ballet choreographer Peter Quanz. The launching point for this work of dance-theatre is Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in 1914 and the mysterious experiences surrounding his life-or-death situation. Three linked dances offer three views of an explorer pursued by an enigmatic "other", through lenses of biography, neurology and theology.
Premiered January 2016 at The Theatre Centre, Toronto
Original cast: Sky Fairchild-Waller, Peter Quanz, Lucy Rupert and Elke Schroeder
Lighting Design by Michelle Ramsay
Stage Management by Marianna Rosato
Music by Jascha Narveson and Walter Frank
Lucy Rupert and Peter Quanz in dead reckoning, photo by Omer Yukseker
animal vegetable mineral
Animal Vegetable Mineral is a moving, impressionistic work in which the ensemble embodies the sensory experiences of life in ecosystems under stress. Originally created for and performed in-the-round at the High Park Nature Centre in Toronto, with a pre-show hike designed by the High Park Nature Centre staff, audiences experience a sensory journey outdoors, then enter the imaginative world of the artists as they become moss, owls, coyotes, lacewings and electro-magnetic fields in the atmosphere. Available to tour, the work is adaptable to new ecosystems and habitats, addressing the unique natural histories and pressures of the area.
Original cast: Sky Fairchild-Waller, Kate Nankervis, Bee Pallomina, Lucy Rupert, Elke Schroeder and William Yong
Music by: Jascha Narveson
Stage management and lighting design: Alaina Perttula-Anderson
Premiere: High Park Nature Centre, Toronto Ontario. April 2017.
Watch trailer here.
photo of the ensemble by Alaina Perttula-Anderson
solo repertoire
Since 1995 Lucy has been building a repertoire of quirky, quicksilver and thoughtful solos which have travelled across Canada and beyond.
Little Noises (1995)
Butterfly (1996)
Me, Myself and the Ideas of March (1996)
Requiem for a Bird (1997)
Breathing without him (1999)
The speed of our vertigoes (2006)
The Abecedarian (2007)
The animals are planning an intervention(2011)
Lament for Solo Computer (2012)
Frankenstein Fragments (2012)
Winterbellum (2013)
at this altitude (2014)
I can only do this much (2017)
The slow seasons (2020)
standing on fishes (2021)
gmi/dmi (2021)
photo from The Abecedarian by Tom Comet
commissioned works
As well as creating her own work, Lucy has commissioned works from noted Canadian choreographers since 2006, on a quest to learn and expand her skills as a dancer and interpreter.These projects have been predominantly solos, except where noted below.
Martha's Deamon by Malgorzata Nowacka 2006
Just Forget it by Jenn Goodwin 2007
Alaap by Nova Bhattacharya 2013
Search for me in the Wasteland (duet) by Peter Quanz 2016
Break out of the circle and turn away from reality by Karen Kaeja 2021
in progress -- new solo for Lucy by Yvonne Ng, premiere 2024
Lucy in Alaap by Nova Bhattacharya, photo by Walter Lai
half life
Half life layers three independently-created works into one stream of choreography. Starting with the date March 13, 1989 on which the startling coincidence of major solar flares and the death of Lucy's mother both happened, the choreography embodied scientific images of coronal mass ejections (solar flares) and the development of cancer cells. Through constant circling and examining of the dancers' individual connections to scar tissue, the separate streams of choreography become inextricably interwoven. Performed in the round, the audience becomes part of the circling motion, experiencing up close the breath, movement and raw energy of the performers. The work includes the solo Alaap, created for Lucy by Nova Bhattacharya.
Premiered at Dancemakers 2013
Original cast: Amanda Acorn, Kate Nankervis, Lucy Rupert and Elke Schroeder
Lighting design by Michelle Ramsay
Stage management by Alaina Perttula-Anderson
Watch the trailer here.
photo of the ensemble by Omer Yukseker
11 x forgetting
Excavating a personal experience with concussion and amnesia, Lucy brought together a unique and mesmerizing trio with Jenn Goodwin's commissioned solo Just Forget It. Created to the music of Radiohead, the work's creative process was stymied and adapted in unpredictable ways when Lucy broke her arm while rehearsing another work. The result is a dance that wanders peculiar paths and darts from meditation to frenzy without apology.
Premiere Dancemakers 2007
Original cast Jennifer Bolt, Bee Pallomina and Lucy Rupert
Lighting design by Robin "Squiggy" Dutt
Stage management by Alaina Perttula-Anderson
Bee Pallomina, Jennifer Bolt and Lucy Rupert photo by Jeremy Brace
Tropic of Cancer
Launching Blue Ceiling dance with a bang, Tropic of Cancer was the company's first official production, a vastly ambitious project bringing 4 dancers and 2 actors into the world of Henry Miller, vivifying Miller's two "Tropic of" volumes as well as his correspondence with writer Lawrence Durrell and the diaries of Anais Nin. Wild and passionate and ridiculous (there were wind-up chattering teeth and a duel with peacock feathers), Tropic of Cancer was also the first and only time Lucy's husband Dennes Pehadzic appeared in a dance performance.
Premiere Dancemakers, Toronto 2004
Original cast: Jennifer Bolt, Jeremy Brace, Brian McDonald, Caroline Niklas-Gordon, Dennes Pehadzic and Lucy Rupert
Choreography by Lucy Rupert with the ensemble
Lighting design and stage management Dylan McDonald
Outside eye: Allyson McMackon
Dennes Pehadzic, Brian McDonald and Jeremy Brace photo by Rebecca Carney
